once upon a time, before veronica mars and entourage, there was a show called cupid. rob thomas created it. paula marshall and jeremy piven starred in it. it was filmed in chicago. it was snappy. it was enchanting. it only lasted 15 episodes and abc cancelled it. it BROKE my heart. it was near the beginning of my long, complicated and ongoing relationship with television.

i'm telling you this because although the new version is entertaining its missing the magic of the original. its not bad. its still rob thomas. bobby cannavale and sarah paulson are charming. ok, so its not set in chicago any more but that's no big - i see chicago everyday. its just missing some of the specialness of the original.

there is an ongoing discussion in the hampton household about which one of us is nerdier...

i maintain that my love of comic books, sci-fi and horror do not make me a bigger nerd than shawn. he did, after all, read cryptonomicon.

i tweet randomly about my etsy shop, life and occasional blah blah about tv or movies. he tweets things like this: "Just got an
abs-positioned link to behave in IE 6+7+8 by kicking it old-school -
1px transparent gif FTW! (and no, i did not use any tables)"

i make pretty girly things. he makes things like this and writes descriptions like this one for a pair of mario mystery box cufflinks: Mariö's block, often described as a paradox, is a plumbing experiment
devised by Austrian plumber Erwin Mariö around 1935. It attempts to
illustrate what he saw as the problems of the Copenhagen interpretation
of quantum mechanics when it is applied with regard to super vs regluar
sized Mario. The concept of superposition, one of the strangest
in quantum mechanics, helped provoke Mariö's conjecture. Broadly
stated, the superposition is the combination of all the possible
positions of a Super Mario. The Copenhagen interpretation implies that
the superposition only undergoes collapse into a definite state at the
exact moment of quantum measurement. Mariö's mind-game was meant
to criticize the strangeness of this. Influenced by a suggestion of
Albert Einstein, Mariö extrapolated the concept to a larger scale. He
proposed a scenario with a sealed box, where fungunius superlia or
pseuderanthemum incendia emerging from the smashed block was dependent
on the presence of a super or regular sized Mario. Without Mario, the
box would just release a coin. According to Mariö, the Copenhagen
interpretation implies that all three items exist in the block before
the block is smashed. These blocks were subsequently placed all about the word of Super Mario. These
super mario cufflinks are made from shrink plastic, sealed with a clear
glossy sealer and attached to silver tone cufflinks. the charms measure
approximately 3/4"x3/4"

the end.thank you for joining me for today's episode of nerd vs. nerd.

everyone has heard from me about the many, many ways in which lucy rocks. i think its your turn.

you are generous. you told me a story today about a family in suttons bay. the mom, who basically ran their dairy farm, got pregnant in her 40s with twins. she was put on bed rest and with 5 sons and a farm to run, that wasn't really going to work. you went every morning and milked the cows and cooked breakfast for the boys. seriously mom, there aren't many people who would give of themselves in that way. you don't seem to think it was a big deal at all.

you are funny. oh so very, very funny. my friends have always adored being around you. i remember when you met steve jay. he needed to get home and pack. it was late and he was supposed to move to boston the next day to be with jen. we went out for a quick dinner and he was just going to stop in an say hi and be on his way. 3 hours later, with tears of laughter running down his face, he finally left. he probably would stayed another hour or two but i forced him to leave, knowing what he needed to accomplish when he got home.

you're crafty. you have always made things, as long as i can remember. whether it was delicate crocheted lace snowflakes or stained glass dragons or the tiara i wore for my wedding, your hands were always doing something. i know that's where i got it from. nevermind that i was a late bloomer.

you're accepting. i was odd. i made up worlds and always had my nose in a book. i didn't like to comb my hair and once i began to comb my hair with any regularity i started dying it every color of the rainbow. i liked to climb trees and i had a mean case of wanderlust at a very young age. i was occasionally bratty and i was never normal. i don't think you ever really wanted me to be. when family would comment on the weirdness of me, you were unwavering.

you love horror movies. i have friends who were never allowed to watch horror movies. you knew that forbidding anything would just backfire so better you watch with me so i wouldn't get scared. a perfect mother daughter afternoon included movies like an american werewolf in london or creepshow. you also have a love of bad horror that i also inherited.

you love to read and you taught me to love reading young. you said one of your proudest days was the day i got my adult library card early - because i'd read all the kids books. you said i showed my new library card to everyone who would let me

you took care of grandma and grandpa. you made sure that they had everything they needed up until the very end - and even then you were there to hold their hands. i am more grateful to you for this than you'll ever know. and i know they were too.

these are just a few of the reasons i love you, mom. happy mother's day!

shawn & i were accepted to renegade san francisco. yup. my brain is short circuiting. how do we get our stuff to san francisco? how do we get to san francisco? how long do we stay? do we get to go to the redwoods? what do we do with the dog? will people in san francisco be hip to the pixel party/cookoorikoo vibe?

anyway, if you're in san francisco, come see us july 18 + 19 at the fort mason center's festival pavilion from 11am - 7pm each day.

i had a rough day today. i had to attend a funeral. the gravesite at the cemetery was near shawn's grandpa which made me miss him, and then lucy. i got home from work and realized what i needed to do. i put itunes on random, turned it up and started to bake a pie. my first of the season actually. a triple-berry rhubarb pie. as i chopped the rhubarb and rolled out the crust, i sang along to one of my most favorite songs. ooh child by the five stairsteps. suddenly, all was right in the world again.

mix dough until sticky. roll into 2 equal sized balls. wrap in plastic wrap and
press into a disk. refrigerate for a half hour. roll out 1 disk of the dough and put into a pie plate. roll
out the other disk for the pie top. cut a heart shaped hole in the center &
set aside.

filling2 cups of rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces1 generous handful each of ripe raspberries, blueberries and blackberries3 tablespoons of cornstarch1 cup of sugar1 teaspoon of vanilla1/2 teaspoon of cinnamonpinch of salt

preheat the oven to 450 degrees. toss the filling ingredients and
fill the pie plate, piling the fruit higher in the center. put a few pats of butter on top of the filling.
put the dough for the top over the filling and seal the pie. brush
the top with milk and sprinkle with sugar. bake at 450 for 10 minute and
then turn down the oven to 350 for another 30-40 minutes, until golden.

about shana

shana is a wearer of knee socks, lover of pie, horror movies and shiny things. she writes about horror and other things, makes pie and shiny things in portland, oregon, where she lives with her husband, shawn (aka shampton). she is the vintage jewelry and yoyo obsessed woman behind the cookoorikoo curtain. email me at cookoorikoo@gmail.com.